Charles A. Lindbergh was born in Detroit, Michigan, on February 4, 1902. His father practiced law in Little Falls, Minnesota, where Charles spent his childhood years and fondly recalled his early days on the farm. He wrote of lying on his back in high timothy and red stop, watching white cumulus clouds drift overhead and imagining an airplane with wings to ride on the wind and be part of the sky. The dawn of aviation entranced him from youth, even though his family discouraged him as an airman. He is most remembered for his brave solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean, which began on May 20, 1927, and finished in Paris the following day. The highly publicized kidnapping of his infant son was a tragedy. A red maple at his boyhood home in Little Falls gave rise to the tree grown from its seed.